stile

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /staɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪl
• Homophones: style, Styal

From Middle English stile, style, stiȝele, from Old English stiġel (“stile, set of steps for getting over a fence”), from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu, from Proto-Germanic *stigilō (“entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile”), equivalent to sty (“to ascend, climb”) +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch stegel (“stirrup”), Low German Stegel (“stile”), German Stiegel (“stile”).

stile (plural stiles)

1. A set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
   • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

     'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because 'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning passed her window near enough to wave a greeting.

2. A vertical component of a frame or panel, such as that of a door, window, or ladder.

   Synonyms: rail, stringer

• style

• (vertical component of a panel or frame): leaf

• stair
• sty

• kissing gate

See the etymology at style.

stile (plural stiles)

1. Obsolete form of style.
   • 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:

     May I not write in such a ſtile as this? / In ſuch a method too, and yet not miſs / Mine end, thy good? why may it not be done?

   • 1683, Joseph Moxon, “§ 25. The Office of the Warehouse-keeper. [(As an Appendix.) Ancient Customs Used in a Printing-house.]”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-books. Applied to the Art of Printing, volume II, London: Printed for Joseph Moxon […], →OCLC, number XXII, page 356:

     Every Printing-houſe is by the Cuſtom of Time out of mind, called a Chappel; and all the Workmen that belong to it are Members of the Chappel: and the Oldeſt Freeman is the Father of the Chappel. I ſuppoſe the ſtile was originally conferred upon it by the courteſie of ſome great Churchman, or men, (doubtleſs when Chappels were in more veneration than of late years they have been here in England) who for the Books of Divinity that proceeded from a Printing-houſe, gave it the Reverend Title of Chappel.

   • 1697, Joseph Moxon, “Operat[ioni] II. To Describe a Dyal upon a Horizontal Plane.”, in Mechanick Dyalling: Teaching any Man, though of an Ordinary Capacity and Unlearned in Mathematicks, to Draw a True Sun-dial on any Given Plane, […], 3rd edition, London: Printed for James Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 17:

     Laſt of all fit a Triangular Iron, whoſe angular point being laid to the Center of the Dyal Plane, one ſide muſt agree with the Subſtilar Line, and its other ſide with the Stilar Line; ſo is the Stile made. And this Stile you muſt erect perpendicularly over the Subſtilar Line on the Dyal Plane, and there fix it. Then is your Dyal finiſhed.

stile (third-person singular simple present stiles, present participle stiling, simple past and past participle stiled)

1. Obsolete form of style.
   • c. 1620s, Elizabeth Cary [misattributed to Henry Cary], The History Of the most unfortunate Prince King Edward II. […] , London: A.G. and F. P., published 1680, page 56:

     They are graciously and lovingly received, the Mayor hath thanks for his late bloody Act, which was stiled and excellent piece of Justice

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “Jones Arrives at Gloucester, and Goes to the Bell; the Character of that House, and of a Petty-fogger, which He there Meets with”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VIII, page 200:

     This Fellow, I ſay, ſtiled himſelf a Lawyer, but was indeed a moſt vile Petty-fogger, without Senſe or Knowledge of any Kind; one of thoſe who may be termed Train-bearers to the Law; [...]

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 106:

     Marianne's preserver, as Margaret, with more elegance than precision, stiled Willoughby, called at the cottage early the next morning to make his personal inquiries.

• stile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• IELTS, Leist, Steil, e-list, islet, istle, liest, lites, slite, teils, tiles

Borrowed from French style, itself borrowed from Latin stilus. Doublet of stelo and stilo, which Italian inherited and borrowed from Latin respectively.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsti.le/
• Rhymes: -ile
• Hyphenation: stì‧le

stile m (plural stili)

1. style
2. class

• stile di vita
• stile libero
• stilistico

• stile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• lesti, liste, steli

stile

1. vocative singular of stilus

• IPA^(key): /ˈstʲilɛ/, [ˈstʲilə]

stile

1. nominative/accusative plural of stil

Inherited from Old English stiġel, from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu.

• steyl, steyle, stiȝele, style

• IPA^(key): /ˈstiːl(ə)/, /ˈstɛi̯l(ə)/

stile (plural styles)

1. stile (set of stairs over a bank or wall)
2. A rung or bar of a ladder.

• English: stile
• Scots: style

• “stīle, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-08.

Borrowed from Medieval Latin stylus and Old French estile, style, from Latin stilus.

• stiel, styell, style

• IPA^(key): /ˈstiːl(ə)/, /ˈstil(ə)/

stile (plural stilez)

2. A stylus, pen, or quill.
3. A written essay or monograph.
4. The topic or theme of such an essay.
5. style (the personal way something is written)
6. style (the way one acts or presents oneself)
7. style (the mode of reference towards someone with a title)
8. (rare) The stem or stalk of a plant.

• English: style, stile (obsolete) (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: style

• “stīle, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-08.

• stille, style

stile m (plural stiles)

1. style
   • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais:

     Si est ce, que les vieils du Senat, memoratifs des moeurs de leurs peres, accuserent cette pratique comme ennemie de leur stile antien

     It is that the older members of the Senate, remembering the customs on their fathers, accused this practice of being the enemy of their ancient style

• French: style, stile (obsolete) (see there for further descendants)